Overview
- The NYPD deployed 68 additional officers for continuous coverage, with 30 assigned to daytime, 30 to evening shifts, and 8 overnight, supported by a mobile command post at the park’s arch.
- Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment charging 19 people with conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death tied to sales around the park.
- Court documents describe two coordinated crews, including a subset of the Bloods and a group allegedly led by John Livigni, that split territory and differentiated products with colored baggies.
- Prosecutors link the network’s drugs to at least two deaths — an 18-year-old from Aspen and a 43-year-old homeless man — and cite more than 65 suspected overdose responses near the park in five years.
- Authorities say the groups used Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Telegram to market fentanyl and heroin, reaching younger buyers and concealing deals with coded messages.